Search Results for: Christian Science Monitor

ODESSA, UKRAINE — The 19th-century building where Nikolai Gogol wrote the second part of “Dead Souls” – widely considered one of the greatest works of 19th-century Russian literature – is abandoned. The house, located on Gogol Street, has been unoccupied for years. The windows are boarded up, paint peels from the walls, and grass grows … Continue reading →

PHNOM PENH, Cambodia – On a recent Wednesday afternoon, when a powerful thunderstorm darkened the sky over Cambodia’s capital, Phnom Penh, children were still playing in the city’s outdoor Olympic-size pool. No one – not even the staff who were supposed to be watching them – told them to get out of the water. British … Continue reading →

BOSTON, Massachusetts, United States – At the Kinsale restaurant in Boston, the menu seems alive. “Touch me!” it screams at diners with big white letters that look as if they came out of a Hollywood western. “Don’t just sit there! Touch me!” When you touch the screen, it shows you close-up pictures of things you … Continue reading →

Visitors to Cambodia’s capital may be missing a well-known icon. Sambo, the 51-year-old female elephant who has given rides to tourists for 30 years and was one of Southeast Asia’s last working urban elephants, has retired. The elephant needed treatment for her feet, says Louise Rogerson, the chief executive officer of the Hong Kong-based Elephant … Continue reading →

A hockey player who has been diagnosed as legally blind is rollerblading from Halifax, Nova Scotia, to Toronto to raise money to teach blind Canadians how to play hockey. Mark DeMontis, who has limited vision, is in-line skating through Canada with two friends who take turns being his guide. He is raising funds through an … Continue reading →

Every day hundreds of bicycles are driven up the hill here – in trucks. The transport of 5,050 bicycles takes place 24 hours a day, says Alain Ayotte, president of Montreal’s Public Bike System Company, known as Bixi, which runs 405 solar-powered, credit-card-operated bicycle-rental stations here. Bicycles are moved up because Montreal’s downtown is at … Continue reading →

Ek Sonn Chan, the general director of the Phnom Penh Water Supply Authority, offers visitors to his office cool water in a crystal glass, covered by a silver lid in the shape of a Cambodian crown. It is tap water – unboiled. He drinks from his glass first, after taking off the lid and waiting … Continue reading →

Chhay Bora had never been to film school, but his first movie, “Lost Loves,” made a Cambodian-American girl cry and an official from the Ministry of Culture collapse as he walked back to his seat after the screening. The first feature film about the Khmer Rouge by a Cambodian director and actors in more than … Continue reading →

PHNOM PENH, Cambodia – A stampede in Cambodia late Monday night killed at least 339 people and injured as many more, with hospital officials projecting the death toll would continue to rise. The stampede happened during Cambodia’s annual Water Festival, which drew a record 4 million people from around the country and region to watch … Continue reading →

HANOI, Vietnam – Vietnamese are preparing to celebrate 1,000 years of urban history. The capital of the Viet Kingdom was moved to Hanoi in the year 1010. And while the exact date of that event is not known, Oct. 10 was the day that Hanoi was liberated from French colonial rule. And 10/10/10 not only … Continue reading →